Woodwork: Wallace Wood 1927-1981 (English and Spanish Edition)

I have been a fan of Wally Wood for over 40 years, since I was a child and first began to be able to tell one artist from another. I was deeply saddened when I found out in the pages of a Marvel Comic that he passed.I have read other books on Wood but "Woodwork," gets it right. Enough art to please, enough text to delight. The art includes reproductions of original art and even a reprinting of (most?) the strip he did for the oversized Wham-O comic.The book is solid and beautiful, the paper deluxe. Well worth the price paid. The text is in English and Soanish. A true museum style tribute to the genius that was and is Wood. If you love this artist buy it without hesitation.

Recently there has been a new revival and appreciation for the work of Alex Toth, whom many consider to be the artit's artist. Toth simplified the way of drawing comic books, by using as few lines as possible, and creating a body of work that due to its simplicity, is admired by artists all over the world. The case for Wally Wood can be the exact opposite of Toth's; his art is usually cluttered with detail (see his sci-fi work for EC), and he was an artist who was forgotten by most comic book publishers later in his career. But Wood remains one of the best, if not the BEST, comic book artist of all time. Wood by now has been relegated to the world of "old timers" nobody cares about. And it's a pity, as his work is worth to be revived and appraised, but not forgotten.Wood rose to fame with the work he did for the (in)famous EC comics in the '50's. Mainly for his sci-fi work, with his spaceship interiors with all those buttons and dials and spring tubing that had no particular use other than looking pretty damn cool. To this day you can see all this cluttered machinery in every sc-fi film you see. He also drew the most sexy girls ever, and even invented the "bottomless" t-shirt before any girl ever wore one. He was a fanatic of using a double-light source to enhance his art, and is considered the master of that. His characters practically leap off the pages. Wood also had a very peculiar way of drawing that was all his own. Pretty much like Jack Kirby, he created his own aritstic "language" by drawing figures that, though not proportionally acurate (his women all had short torsos, long legs and a huge bust), looked perfectly right. Add to this his most improbable double source lighting, and his characters looked more real than life. Having achieved success as an artist of realistic comics, and the envy of most other artists in the industry, you'd think he could have rested on his laurels. Well, Wood had another card up his sleeve; he was an extraordinary humorous artist as well. His work for MAD remains unparalleled to this day. And though he is most fondly remembered for "Superduperman" and "Flesh Garden", he was also excellent when he worked for the b&w version of MAD and did all those parodies of the then current comic strips. He mastered the craftint shading and produced some unbelievable artwork for MAD (unfortunately non of it is available in this book, aside of the work he did for the 50's MAD).During the sixties he created his own superhero series with the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, simplifying his art and leaving it less cluttered than the work he had done for EC, but no less effective. He also worked for Marvel drawing, among others, some of the early issues of Daredevil. In the 70's he would do some totally astonishing work for the Warren magazines (some of it reproduced for this book and shot from the original art), but somewhere in the late '70's, early 80's his career took a left turn and he seemed to have been forgotten by everyone else in the business. He ended doing porno comics, but Wood being Wood, always gave a certain class to all his work, that few have been able to attain.This book then, is a catalog or artbook, showcasing Wood's work covering his body of work from the beginning till the end of his career. As with the previous book showcasing Big John Buscema's work, most of the art is shot from the original artboards (oddly enough, most of it coming from the private collections of european fans), and it also includes some unpublished artwork the general public has never seen. The presentation is just superb, and though many complained of the previous book on Buscema for having the text set too small, you must remember that the priority here is given to the art. The text is both in english and spanish, as it comes from the exhibit held two years ago in Casal Solleric, in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. This book is based on the catalog produced for such exhibit (by the way, the cover Amazon shows here is the one of that catalog, the book IDW sells features a slightly altered version). It's sad that such exhibits are held halfway across the world and that no one does the equivalent in the US. By the way, the exhibit for this year (between the months of January and April 2013) is dedicated to Russ Heath, another artistic monument of the american comic book scene, so let's hope IDW will also publish a book from that show in the near future.All in all, a simply fantastic artbook on one of the most significant artists the comic book medium has ever produced, and one that no serious comic book fan should miss.

This book went straight from the box on the porch to the kitchen table for the next 3 hours. Wallace Wood taught me how to draw, along with his fellows Bill Elder and Jack Davis. I didn't read Mad Magazine, I STUDIED it. Wood had a great, full life, if short, and obviously loved observing people and stashing away expressions (and a good bit of T&A) for use later. His sci-fi work is legendary, but the stuff he did for Mad Magazine really showed his twisted flexibility and laugh-out-loud humor. His caricatures of movie stars and other dubious notables are on par with Mort Drucker. I wish he'd stayed with us a little longer. This is a LARGE book, high-surface clay-coated pages to make the illustrations really sharp, so it's heavy too. That's why it's good to land it on a well-lit kitchen table! If you are of a certain age and want to relive a better time (even with incipient nuclear attack) or if you're a cartoonist-illustrator who would like to see how it's SUPPOSED to be DONE, get this book.

Any fan of Wally Wood -- any fan of great artists -- will love this book. Based on an exhibition of Wood's work held in Spain a few years ago, the text given in English and Spanish, informing the reader of Wood's career and contributions.A lot of the work reproduced in this volume is stuff I have never seen before. Wood worked in the fantasy, science-fiction, crime, adventure, war, and horror genres, and there is plenty of each to impress the reader.This book is a winner, hands down.

Giving praise to this book is like sending coal to Newcastle- it's already received so much positive attention that more seems unnecessary. But it might be useful to hear it from someone who doesn't consider themselves a great Wally Wood fan. After his death there was a steady flow of books published in tribute to his life and work but none of them were "the" book on the artist.This offering IS "the" book, the definitive publication. IDW is upping the bar with their line of books for comic art lovers, with their strong production values. And while some seem bloated (like their 3 volume Toth biography or some of their "atrist's editions"), Woodwork is definitive without being excessive.

A ton of great Wally Wood art that will leave you panting for more. The other reviews here are more eloquent than I, but I do have one comment.There is a lot of white space here. Space that could have made the art samples bigger, the text blocks bigger, and the little (and I mean almost microscopic) callouts sprinkled throughout bigger.Those of us older folks having vision challenges (and probably the main demo for this book) would appreciate consideration in the future.This book is a bargain at under 40 bucks. Grab it...you won't be disappointed!

Everything as advertised

As a devoted fan of Mad magazine from issue #1, I have always eagerly awaited Wood's latest artwork. This is beyond comprehensive and the book is huge and weighs about 10 pounds. Since half the text is in Spanish the heft is understandable. Totally enjoyable and shows the range of his work that I was not aware of. If you happily dug into Wood's illustrations you will he highly entertained by this opus.

A superb volume covering a wide range of Wallace Wood's work throughout his career. For me, the Tower section was superb as was the EC / Warren sections but the whole book is an essential book for any comic fan. The book also includes a number of original art pages (the complete story, not just a single page).The only minor issue is that the text is in English and Spanish (not that is this is surprising - many art books use a similar approach with English / French / German etc) but it does mean the text is shorter than I first realized.Certain the best volume I have ever bought on any of the EC comic artists.

A great book for any wally wood fan I wish the exhibit could have come to London or easier for me Manchester where I now reside

Fantastic volume on the life of troubled artist. Many prints, good read as well.

More of a coffee book table book then a comic collection of Wood's work. Much of it from what I saw as I flipped through are examples of his work (some of which are reproduced from the originals which is awesome) but not full stories and bodies of his work he has done. I have only briefly flipped through the book and with its oversized design does a great job of show casing the original artwork in its 11X17 size. This seems to be a book that is something you would buy at a museum while taking in the art show that inspired this book. Still a great book but was expecting a little more from it with complete issues or sets of artwork covering full issues of books he did. Maybe later in the book there will be stuff like this, but once again a great book.

This item arrived in rough shape very clearly showing signs of having been previously owned.